By Chris Snellgrove | Published
For Star Wars fans, the opening crawl of A New Hope it has more or less been fulfilled: the time of the civil war. In the fandom, there are still plenty of diehards who binge and secure every new show on Disney+ and buy their tickets to movies like The Mandalorian and the Grogu months in advance. But there is a growing number of fans who have grown critical of the franchise after a major failure like this Rise of Skywalker again The Acolyteand those fans worry that the franchise they've loved all their lives is finally running out of ideas.
That's why there was controversy when Dave Filoni became the new president of Lucasfilm. Filoni was once completely icon to the fans because he was a showman The Clone Wars cartoon, one of the coolest things about Star Wars. However, Filoni's art has grown so introspective that at times it seems as though he is intent on recreating this galaxy far, far away in his own image. However, before Filoni takes the reins of the entire franchise into his fan hands, he receives a secret warning from the most unlikely source of all: Andor creator and showrunner Tony Gilroy!
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Andor's success honestly speaks for itself. It's not just the best Star Wars show ever made; is one of the best TV shows ever made, one that would have been compelling even if it wasn't part of this popular franchise. The show is the end of the film Rogue Onewhen the doomed character Jyn Erso reveals that “rebels are built on hope.” Now, Andor he has created hope among fans who have been burned by high-profile failures such as The Book of Boba Fett again The Acolyte. Whenever people say there are no good Star Wars stories left to tell, these loyal fans point to Andora labor of love from programmer Tony Gilroy.
What was his secret to making a killer Star Wars show? Last year, he told Backstory Magazine for the advice he gave us Andorwriters and anyone else who creates stories in this galaxy far, far away. “A lot of times when you're working on IP storytelling, your impulse is to open up the toy box and start playing with all the toys,” Gilroy said. “You have to try to resist that, and what you have to do is leave more toys in the toy box than there were when you got there and resist the urge to be a child and instead think like a storyteller who adds to the world rather than taking from it.”
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Obviously, Gilroy didn't call out any Star Wars creators in this quote, but it sounds like he was taking a swipe at Dave Filoni. While The Clone Wars was an indisputable masterpiece, Filoni spent his entire subsequent career doing every Star Wars project he worked on by returning to his previous work. For example, he was a runner of Rebelsthere The Clone Wars' Ahsoka became a major character. When he gave Ahsoka his entire show, he turned everything into a Rebels succession. He also confirmed that both The Mandalorian again The Book of Boba Fett featuring the live-action debut of The Clone Wars characters like Bo-Katan and Cad Bane.
In other words, when Filoni opens the playbox, he never he stopped trying to play with all the toys, often at the expense of telling good stories. Like, The Book of Boba Fett it was already pretty bad, but a hammy, nonsensical cameo from Cad Bane just made things worse. Ahsoka it's a solid show, but Sabine is so different (wait, she has Jedi skills now?) that she might be a different character entirely. Kate Sackhoff is crazy The Mandalorianbut bringing his character to live action will be a total waste if we never get a fourth season of that Star Wars hit.
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Arguably, almost every Star Wars project that Dave Filoni has worked on would be better off if he focused more on telling good stories than jumping in cameos from his favorite creatures. Tony Gilroy understood this, that's why Andor has (besides Mon Mothma) very few prominent cameos from or referencing prominent characters of the franchise. He tried to warn Filoni, but the warning didn't stick, that's why the worst thing about Filoni-written. Mandalorian and Grogu the return of Rotta, Hutt whom we last saw passing Filoni's The Clone Wars the movie.
If this is the kind of toy Lucasfilm's new president can't stop playing with, is it any wonder Star Wars still stinks?
